HOOVER, Ala. — Houston's NRG Stadium is ready and willing should Texas A&M need a place to play its home games this season.

Kyle Field is undergoing a $450 million rebuild, but the Aggies are still scheduled to play at home this year, with the overall project scheduled for completion in a little more than a year.

Should Kyle, for whatever reason, not be ready for the Aggies' home opener on Sept. 6 against Lamar, the university has contingency plans in place that include NRG (formerly Reliant Stadium), the closest large stadium to College Station among San Antonio's Alamodome and Arlington's AT&T Stadium.

“We've had a number of (past) conversations about NRG Stadium and that we would be open to putting that together, if that's what Texas A&M needs,” Texans president Jamey Rootes said Tuesday while visiting SEC Media Days. “We've got great friends over there with Eric Hyman, Skip Wagner and Kevin Sumlin.”

Hyman is the Aggies' athletic director, Wagner is president of the 12th Man Foundation and former Houston Rodeo president and CEO, and Sumlin is A&M's third-year coach.

Rootes, on hand to tout the LSU-Wisconsin season opener on Aug. 30 in the Advocare Texas Kickoff in NRG, assured that no such conversations have taken place of late, as A&M officials have vowed the project is on target for the Sept. 6 game.

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“They know where we are, and if there's a way we can help, I'm sure we'll sit down and get the ball moving forward quickly,” Rootes said of any sudden snags for A&M.

A&M opens its 2015-16 season against Arizona State in the Advocare Texas Kickoff in NRG on Sept. 5.

A&M begins this season Aug. 28 at South Carolina, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have proposed the new “cross-division rivals” play for the James Bonham Trophy.

Bonham was a one-time South Carolina student and a hero of the Battle of the Alamo — prompting bemusement on Tuesday at the media days from Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier on the notion of the Bonham honor.

“I'm from Tennessee, and I was always taught the hero of the Alamo was Davy Crockett,” Spurrier said. “So this was a new one on me. I'm sure Bonham did some good things. ... (But) the trophy was a little surprising to me.”

A&M hasn't competed for a trophy during a regular-season game since taking part in the Lone Star Showdown with former Big 12 rival Texas, but that replica of the state of Texas simply rested on the shelf of the school that earned the most points during the year in all sports head-to-head, not merely for football.